Following a patient's below-knee amputation, there is a need for a prosthetic limb post-operative support device that can be used to protect the patient's residual limb soon after the amputation and to help avoid any traumas to the limb so the limb can properly heal. Current known post-operative support apparatuses contain a hard plastic shell or socket that provides limited ability to accommodate a change in the volume or dimensions of the limb after the post-operative component is fit. Such hard plastic shells themselves may present a risk to, and may be the cause of, in some instances, damage to the sensitive soft tissues after the surgery.
Accordingly, there is a need for a post-operative assembly that has the ability to account for occasional swelling of the patient's residual limb, possible de-bulking of wound dressing, expected/possible atrophy in the patient's residual limb and other changes to the volume or shape of the patient's residual limb as the limb heals following the operation. For example, it is common that the residual limb and dressing can lose upwards of 50 percent of its volume in the 48 hours following the amputation surgery.